Livestock Safety Tips
If you own livestock, you know how important it is to take care of the animals’ safety. While it can be a bit tough for you to prevent every possible mishap, there are several ways to decrease the risks. We’ve put together our top tips for keeping your livestock safe. Keep reading to learn more. If you have any questions or want to shop farm equipment for sale, get in touch with us today!
Understand Livestock Behavior
First and foremost, you’ll want to understand various aspects of animal behavior as this will enable you to take good care of them. Most animals like to be kept in each other’s company. When they are isolated from the herd, it can agitate them and increase the chances of an accident. Whenever possible, try to keep your livestock together. If you need to move them to another place, relocate the leader and the rest should follow.
Be Cautious
Most livestock, such as horses and cattle, are prey animals and accordingly have some inherent behavioral characteristics. For instance, they have a “flight zone.” As a result, actions inside their flight zone can lead to a fight, flight, or freeze response, which can create extremely dangerous situations. That’s why you’ll want to avoid entering their flight zone. If at all it’s necessary, go slowly and deliberately, making sure that they see you and won't be stressed when you come near to them.
Keep in mind that it’s a good practice to avoid walking behind livestock or operating farm equipment behind them. As you won’t be visible to them, they could mistake the sounds as a predator, which could also trigger the fight, flight, or freeze response.
Travel Safely
An important step in the safe transportation of livestock is getting a trailer that is most suited to the task at hand. To do that, you need to ask yourself a few questions. Is the livestock trailer big enough for the number of animals you’ll be transporting? Is the loading ramp right for your stock? Are the floors of a non-slip material that limits the noise that agitates animals? When you get the right trailer, you make the hauling process easier for you and your livestock.
When you hitch your trailer, make sure all safety chains and mechanisms are properly in place and give a final inspection before hitting the road. Taking these extra few moments for safety can go a long way in protecting your animals.
We hope that this beginner’s guide helps keep you and your livestock safe! To learn more, or to check out the equipment and trailers we have available, contact us at Rivera's Machinery, Inc. in Donna, TX. We welcome all our patrons visiting us from Harlingen and San Benito. Our team would be happy to show you what we have in stock right now and help you find what you need.